Thursday, May 5, 2011

Gettin' bigger

All the chickens are getting bigger and bigger. The baby chicks are now 3 weeks old and feathering out nicely. Remember how I orginally wanted only a small flock of 4-6 hens? Well, I've been outnumbered by the other family members. The begining stages of Chicken Math. We are keeping 2 of each, plus 2 Amerucaunas (if we have 2 hens) for a total of 8 chickens. My daughter has picked out names for the ones we will keep. We thought it would be neat to name the Rhode Island Reds with "R" names, the Buff Orpingtons with "B" names and the Plymouth Rocks with "P" names. So we will have Ruby, Riley, Bonnie, Burnett (I'm hoping to sway her to change that to Buffy), Patty and Penny. The remaining chicks are going to a friend and she'll have to come up with her own names.

Meanwhile out in the coop....

The Amerucaunas and Cornish Rocks are now 7 weeks old. The Amerucaunas are changing and each one has different colorings. Below is "Amelia" who we are thinking might actually be a rooster because of the comb development. If so he will go out to the friend's farm. He sure is pretty tho.

Below is Henrietta (sitting on my knee), the friendliest most curious of the bunch. We are really hoping she's a hen and gets to stay with us. So far she has virtually no comb development.

And this is George....we just aren't sure about his gender. He's also very aloof.

And then there are the Cornish Rocks. Brenda, Frankfurt and Bubbles.....They are also 7 weeks old and only about 2 weeks from butchering...They are no fun at all. Eat, sleep, poop and they don't get around very well. We are pretty sure we don't really want to raise them again.

We've finally begun constructing the run. Weather and other home improvement/landscaping projects have put this on the back burner. The weather is improving and the chickens are getting bigger so it's time to get it done.